Friday, December 01, 2006

The Incredible Inflatable

Finally, the Christmas spirit is starting to get to me. No, wait, correction - I still enjoy Christmas. It's Xmas I cannot stand.

I freaking hate the cheesy music in supermarkets. I freaking hate the corny decorations. I freaking hate the crowds.

I used to like that stuff. When did I turn into a Grinch?

There is one type of decorations, though, that still doesn't fail to amuse me, and that's the inflatables. I first started paying attention to them after Muzikdude told a story about how, when the weather was warm, everybody on his street put the inflatables up; then it turned cold and, true to the laws of physics, they shrunk and kind of folded, looking exactly like they had dropped dead. As I drove the kids to school, I looked around the street, and, what do you know, Muzikdude was right! It was a chilly day, and everybody's front yards were full of dead Santas, reindeer, snowmen and other adorable Christmas characters.

It was the closest thing to drive-by shooting our neighborhood could ever get.

Just when I thought that my level of inflatable-induced amusement had reached its all-time high, something new came out. I was driving down the street when it caught my eye. Finally, I thought, somebody got the right idea about decorating for Christmas! This had been long overdue - an inflatable Mr. Hanky, popping out of a toilet!

However, as I pulled closer, I realized, that the figure I had taken for Mr. Hanky was, in fact, a penguin! I was still puzzled as to why a penguin would pop out of a toilet, but, thanks to Google, I now know that what I had thought to be a toilet is, in fact, an igloo!

As you can see, the Mr. Hanky/Penguin is sold out. Yes, it's that popular. Possibly because it is animated!